Ebay car buyer robbed by gun gang

A man who bought a car on eBay was robbed at gunpoint when he went to hand over the cash, it was reported today.

Shahzad Ali Shah, 23, from Crawley, West Sussex, was told by the seller of a Mercedes Benz Kompressor C180 that a cash purchase would secure him his dream car, the Daily Mirror reported.

Mr Ali Shah told the newspaper: "The man said if I paid in cash he would not offer it to anyone else.

"He said if I had the cash, the car was available and we could do the deal straight away. I put in an offer for £5,500 and he accepted."

The eBay website is an online marketplace for registered users to buy and sell their goods. Common payment methods include cheque, postal order, or the online payment system PayPal.

The student agreed to meet the seller in east London on August 20, the same day the sale was agreed.

He was accompanied by his mother, Shahnaz, who was funding the purchase, and his brother-in-law, Shaharayar Talpur.

Mr Ali Shah said he grew suspicious when he called the seller who rearranged their meeting place. When they arrived, four men got out of a Vauxhall Corsa and surrounded the car, the newspaper reported.

Mr Ali Shah said an Asian man produced a gun and took their car keys and demanded the money for the Mercedes.

He said: "One said 'I'll count to three and if you don't hand over the money I'm going to do something'.

"He started counting and got to two and I shouted at my mum to hand it over. It was a terrifying ordeal," he told the newspaper.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed an armed robbery took place in Marlborough Road, Dagenham, east London, on August 20 at 5.30pm.

He said: "There were three victims, two men and a woman, who were buying a car advertised on an internet site.

"They were approached in their car by four men, three black and one Asian man."

The police spokesman confirmed that an Asian man produced a gun when the three victims refused to hand over money.

He said: "Barking and Dagenham CID are investigating the incident. No arrests have been made."

The Daily Mirror reported that the gang stole £5,580 and a purse, credit cards and mobile phone belonging to Mr Ali Shah's mother. The police spokesman refused to confirm the amount stolen.

An eBay spokesman said it was the first such incident involving website users that he was aware of.

An eBay spokesman said today: "A car is sold every two minutes on eBayMotors.co.uk.

"The person buying this car actually contacted the seller independently and made private arrangements to buy the car, outside the safety of the eBay site.

"We always advise buyers and sellers to trade within the safe environment that eBay provides, rather than making private arrangements to buy an item which we cannot protect.

"eBay provides a safe method of payment, whether with PayPal or a bank transfer, which unlike cash can easily be traced if anything goes wrong.

"We are working closely with the police in this case and have passed on details of the account holder."